This invention relates to physical therapy devices, medical devices and exercise devices.
Many people suffer from pain and/or loss of range of motion in joints, such as the shoulder and elbow. Causes for pain and/or loss of range of motion can be anything from physical injury to old age.
A treatment for injury can often include physical therapy and exercise. Due to the complex movements of the shoulder, several different exercises may be used to flex the shoulder in different ways. When machines are used to assist in exercising, generally a unique machine is provided for each particular exercise.
There remains a need for a device capable of exercising the shoulder in multiple ways. There remains a need for a device capable of exercising the shoulder as well as the elbow.
During physical therapy, a range of motion of a joint may be measured on an ongoing basis. A physical therapist may use one device to measure a range of motion and a separate device for exercising the joint.
There remains a need for a device capable of exercising a joint as well as performing a range of motion analysis.
The invention is not limited to medical settings. Any person who desires to maximize their mobility, functional ability and quality of life can benefit from exercising the shoulder. When using external resistance, such as a machine that provides weights or flexing bands, the resistance provided is generally considered one-way, wherein the biasing provided operates in a single direction.
There remains a need for an exercise device that provides two-way resistance.
All US patents and applications and all other published documents mentioned anywhere in this application are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Without limiting the scope of the invention a brief summary of some of the claimed embodiments of the invention is set forth below. Additional details of the summarized embodiments of the invention and/or additional embodiments of the invention may be found in the Detailed Description of the Invention below.
A brief abstract of the technical disclosure in the specification is provided as well only for the purposes of complying with 37 C.F.R. 1.72. The abstract is not intended to be used for interpreting the scope of the claims.